A German Christian’s Reflections: I Have Found the Path to Victory Over Sin

By Anna, Germany

Editor’s Note: Are you still struggling in the agony of sin? Are you discouraged and disappointed because you live trapped in a cycle of sinning and repentance? What must we do to escape the bondage of sin? I hope reading this article will be of some help to you.

5. How Must You Believe in God in Order to Be Saved and Made Perfect?

Relevant Words of God:

To summarize taking the path of Peter in believing in God, it is to take the path of pursuing the truth, which is also the path of truly knowing oneself and changing one’s disposition. Only by going the path of Peter will one be going the path of being perfected by God. One must be clear on specifically how to take the path of Peter and how to put it into practice. First, one must put aside his own intentions, improper pursuits, and even his family and all things of his own flesh. He must be wholeheartedly devoted, that is, completely devote himself to the word of God, focus on eating and drinking the word of God, focus on the search for the truth, the search for God’s intention in His words, and try to grasp the will of God in everything. This is the most fundamental and the most critical method of practice. This is what Peter did after seeing the Lord Jesus, and it is only by practicing in this way that one obtains the best results. Wholehearted devotion to the words of God mainly means seeking the truth, seeking God’s intention within His words, focusing on grasping the will of God, and understanding and obtaining more truth from the words of God. When reading His words, Peter was not focused on understanding doctrines and he was even less focused on obtaining theological knowledge; instead, he was focused on understanding the truth and grasping God’s will, and achieving an understanding of His disposition and His loveliness. He also tried to understand the various corrupt states of man from God’s words, and understand the corrupt nature of man and man’s true shortcomings, achieving all aspects of the demands God makes of man in order to satisfy Him. He had so many correct practices within the words of God; this is most in line with God’s will, and it is man’s best cooperation in his experience of the work of God. When experiencing the hundreds of trials from God, he examined himself strictly against every word of God’s judgment of man, every word of God’s revelation of man, and every word of His demands of man, and tried to reach for the meaning of God’s words. He tried in earnest to ponder and memorize every word that the Lord Jesus said to him, and achieved very good results. Through this way of practicing he was able to achieve an understanding of himself from God’s words, and he not only came to understand the various corrupt states of man, but he also came to understand man’s essence, man’s nature, and the various types of shortcomings that man has—this is a true understanding of oneself. From God’s words, he not only achieved a true understanding of himself, but from the things expressed in God’s word—God’s righteous disposition, what He has and is, God’s will for His work, His demands of mankind—from these words he came to know God completely. He came to know God’s disposition, and His essence; he came to know and understand what God has and is, God’s loveliness and God’s demands for man. Even though at that time God did not speak as much as He does today, fruit was borne in Peter in these aspects. This was a rare and precious thing. Peter went through hundreds of trials but did not suffer in vain. He not only came to understand himself from the words and the work of God, but he also came to know God. He also particularly focused on God’s requirements of mankind within His words, and in what aspects man should satisfy God to be in line with God’s will. He put forth great effort in this aspect and achieved full clarity; this was very beneficial for his own entry. No matter what God spoke of, as long as those words could become his life, he was able to carve them into his heart to ponder them often and comprehend them. After hearing the words of the Lord Jesus he was able to take them to heart, which shows that he was especially focused on God’s words, and he truly achieved results in the end. That is, he was able to freely put the words of God into practice, accurately practice the truth and be in line with God’s will, act entirely in accordance with God’s intention, and give up his own personal opinions and imaginations. In this way he entered into the reality of God’s words. Peter’s service was in line with God’s will primarily because he did this.

from “How to Take the Path of Peter” in Records of Christ’s Talks

Seeing Through the CCP’s Lies, God’s Love Draws Me Back to Him (Part 2)

By Kemu, South Korea

After Seeing the Truth I No Longer Stand in the Way of My Wife’s Faith

The brothers and sisters then played a video for me, The Truth Exposed Behind the May 28 Zhaoyuan Case. It revealed several major suspicious aspects of the case and then dissected them layer by layer. I was really engrossed in it and did my own analysis of the case along with the video to ferret out the truth, and the furrow in my brow gradually relaxed as the video went on. As I saw layer after layer of the lies exposed I let out a long breath. I realized that the May 28 Zhaoyuan Case was single-handedly concocted by the CCP to stifle religious beliefs and eradicate The Church of Almighty God. The offenders in the case, Zhang Lidong, Zhang Fan and others, denied with their own mouths that they were members of The Church of Almighty God, and said that they were completely unaffiliated with the church. But the CCP completely disregarded the suspects’ testimonies and flagrantly went against the facts, insisting that was done by people with The Church of Almighty God. What was even more outlandish was that even without a court trial or verdict, the CCP didn’t wait to publicly, definitively plant the case on The Church of Almighty God through TV and Internet media, and that was all to create a public uproar to suppress it and wipe it out. The CCP framed the church and created that kind of false case so that it could start madly suppressing and arresting Christians with the church without a hitch. It’s just like how they suppressed the June 4 students’ movement in 1989—the CCP first fabricated rumors to portray the students’ patriotic movement as revolutionary violence, and then they started carrying out arrests and murdering people. Faced with the facts, I finally saw with complete clarity that the CCP’s tactic for eradicating any dissenters has been to first fabricate rumors and distort the facts, then frame them, and then violently suppress them. Turning the truth on its head and distorting reality and framing The Church of Almighty God so that the people, who don’t know the truth, are taken in by their lies and will misunderstand the church is detestable! But something I still didn’t understand was that the brothers and sisters in The Church of Almighty God are upright people who are nothing like they say online, so why would the CCP so madly persecute the church and go to great pains to plant that murder case on The Church of Almighty God, and arrest its members? What was really going on?

Seeing Through the CCP’s Lies, God’s Love Draws Me Back to Him (Part 1)

By Kemu, South Korea

Deceived by CCP Lies I Stand in the Way of My Wife’s Faith

“I’m telling you one more time—don’t keep talking to me about that God stuff, and you’re not allowed to have anything to do with those religious people anymore. If I see that you’ve been in touch with them again, I’ll smash your phone to pieces!”

4. The Significance of God’s Work of Trials and Refinement

Relevant Words of God:

What internal state in people are these trials aimed at? They are targeted at the rebellious disposition in people that is incapable of satisfying God. There is much that is impure within people, and much that is hypocritical, and so God subjects them to trials in order to purify them. …

3. The Significance of God’s Work of Judgment and Chastisement

Relevant Words of God:

The work of the last days is to separate all according to their kind, and to conclude the management plan of God, for the time is near and the day of God has come. God brings all who enter His kingdom—all who are loyal to Him to the very end—into the age of God Himself. Yet prior to the arrival of the age of God Himself, God’s work is not to observe the deeds of man, or to inquire into the life of man, but to judge man’s disobedience, for God shall purify all those who come before His throne. All who have followed the footsteps of God to this day are those who come before the throne of God, and this being so, every single person who accepts God’s work in its final phase is the object of God’s purification. In other words, everyone who accepts God’s work in its final phase is the object of God’s judgment.

from “Christ Does the Work of Judgment With the Truth” in The Word Appears in the Flesh

2. The Significance of God’s Work of Conquest

Relevant Words of God:

Mankind, too deeply corrupted by Satan, knows not that there is a God and has stopped worshiping God. In the beginning, when Adam and Eve were created, Jehovah’s glory and Jehovah’s testimony were ever present. But after being corrupted, man lost the glory and the testimony because everyone rebelled against God and stopped revering Him altogether. Today’s conquering work is to get back all the testimony and all the glory, and to have all men worship God, so that there is testimony among the created. This is what needs to be done in this stage of work. How exactly is mankind to be conquered? It will be done by using this work of words to fully convince man; by using disclosure, judgment, chastisement, and merciless curse to thoroughly subdue him; and by disclosing man’s rebelliousness and judging his resistance so he can know mankind’s unrighteousness and filth, which will be used to highlight God’s righteous disposition. Mainly, it will be the use of these words that conquers man and fully convinces him. Words are the means to the ultimate conquering of mankind, and all who accept conquering must accept the smiting and judgment of the words. The current process of speaking is the process of conquering. How exactly should people cooperate? By eating and drinking these words effectively and understanding them. People cannot become conquered by themselves. You must, from eating and drinking these words, come to know your corruption and filth, your rebelliousness and unrighteousness, and fall down before God. If you can understand God’s will and then put it into practice and, further, have the vision, and if you can completely obey these words and not exercise any of your own choices, then you will have been conquered. And it will be these words that have conquered you. Why did mankind lose the testimony? Because no one has faith in God or holds God in his heart at all anymore. Conquering mankind means having people restore this faith. People always tend toward the world, harboring too many hopes, wanting too much for their future, and having too many extravagant demands. They are always thinking about and planning for their flesh and never interested in seeking the way of belief in God. Their hearts have been captured by Satan, they have lost their reverence for God, and they are devoting their heart to Satan. But man was created by God. Thus, man has lost the testimony, meaning he has lost the glory of God. The purpose of conquering mankind is to seize back the glory of man’s reverence for God.

from “The Inside Truth of the Conquering Work (1)” in The Word Appears in the Flesh